• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Discrimination / Harassment

DOJ: Corpus Christi’s police tests biased against women

07/31/2012
Between 2005 and 2011, the Corpus Christi Police Department hired 113 male entry-level police officers—and just 12 women. The U.S. De­­part­­ment of Justice thinks it knows the reason for the disparity: a physical ability test that most men can pass but few women can.

Is it a slur, or a misinterpretation?

07/31/2012
No one tolerates the usual racial and ethnic slurs. But what about novel phrases that aren’t in the common lexicon? Can those be the basis for a racially hostile work environment claim?

Texas Supreme Court clarifies: It’s not age bias if new worker is older than the original

07/31/2012
The Texas Supreme Court has just made it much easier for employers to avoid age discrimination claims. In what the court calls a “true replacement case” under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, an older worker must show that she was replaced by a younger worker.

Aftermath of an affair: Beware harassment

07/31/2012
You can’t stop all romantic entanglements at work, but you can and should make sure the post-affair fallout doesn’t disrupt the workplace.

Manager mistakes: 3 key lessons from the courtroom

07/30/2012
It’s always smarter—and less expensive—to learn about employment law from others’ mistakes, rather than your own. Here are three new court decisions that serve up great lessons for any manager:

The ‘perceived as’ theory of discrimination in Pennsylvania

07/27/2012
An intriguing discrimination case in New Jersey raises complicated issues that Pennsylvania courts may one day have to address: discrimination claims based on perceived membership in a protected class.

Track your fair and equitable discipline to prove you don’t discriminate

07/27/2012
Even an employee who was terminated for good reasons can win a discrimination lawsuit if she can show that someone outside her protected class wasn’t fired for the same transgression. That’s why you must track all discipline.

Family Dollar signs on to EEOC’s mediation program

07/25/2012
Matthews-based retailer Family Dollar is the latest employer to take up the EEOC’s offer to mediate its em­­ployment disputes. It has signed an agreement—known as a National Universal Agreement to Mediate (UAM)—that allows employers to use EEOC mediators to informally resolve discrimination complaints through alternative dispute resolution.

EEOC sews up settlement with Asheboro textile firm

07/25/2012
Asheboro-based BJ Con/Sew will pay $75,000 to settle an EEOC national-origin harassment lawsuit filed on behalf of a former employee who says he endured almost daily ethnic slurs for two years.

Beware jumping the gun when firing injured worker

07/25/2012
Before terminating an employee who has racked up absences that may or may not be related to a workplace in­­jury, make sure she has had a chance to show that the injury contributed to her attendance problems.